Typically story of an entrepreneur using “NO”: After an interaction with me you have committed yourself to a new GOAL. From that commitment you stack on new empowering activities to move you towards your new destiny and something happens. You start to feel overwhelmed. So in that moment you take my advice and start to use one of the most powerful words in our language:“NO.”
This is where it gets tricky and people make mistakes because the old you,meaning your old habits,suck you back towards apathy.
So lets stop and look at the action you want to say no to. Unfortunately people typically say “NO”to the NEW activity moving them towards their goal,thinking that their old mundane activities or habits are sacred and should not be adjusted. BUT that means you are not committed to your commitment. You are letting the use of the word “NO”help you procrastinate and avoid doing what should be done to reach your goal. Let me tell you something you already know…the world does not honor the commitments you personally will not stay committed to! Especially when you unknowingly want to avoid pain or change through the inappropriately use of “NO.”
So what does that mean…you most likely should say “NO”to the thing that falls lower on your priority list. Saying “NO”effectively will allow you to focus on the more important issues,this will result in you getting more done because you are doing less as a result of saying “NO.” Saying no to the superfluous activities,saying “NO”to the activity that takes you further away from your single most important objective.
If you are trying to justify your decision by saying “Yeah but Ted I am only one person.”I assume you have yet to get clear on your most important objective and what you really want. You have yet to get COMMITTED to what you deem as the single most important outcome. From there you’ll say “YES” to what moves you forward and “NO” to the things that have been holding you back. If you are still saying,“Yeah Ted,but I just don’t have the time,money,resources etc…”you most likely still need to look at what you could say “NO”to. Here are some things to consider saying “NO”to;unhealthy relationships,television time,un healthy foods,non productive thoughts,bad habits,redundant meetings,non profit boosting expenses and anything that does not serve you,others and the greater good.
2 the point recap: Powerful idea:Appropriately use the word “NO” Efficient deployment:Say “NO”to the “bad”and replace that time to do “good” Distinction:Prioritization creates clarity for what to say “NO”to
You’ll be surprised how much life will say “YES”to you when you start saying “NO.”
To greater success, Ted
P.S. If you are not sure if you are saying “NO”for the right reasons then contact us for a 7 Minute Breakthrough,where we…where I commit to helping you understand how to get your business to where you really want it to be and all within 7 minutes.
Don’t fear you might have some one share an objection with you…those objections will help you assist the prospect in doing what is in their best interest. But I’ll explain how to use the objection to close a sale on a later date. Here we’ll just knock it out of the park with our dear friend LODI (not talking about the city in Texas!)
“I’ll need my spouse to attend with me”“great no problem,we hear that all of the time and we have a procedure for that. To prevent LODI…Law of Diminishing Intent,are you familiar with that?”“LODI states the longer you wait to do something that you know you should do now the greater the change you’ll never actually get it done. So to prevent that our procedure is,we’ll schedule you now for a date you think you can make and for any reason you find you can’t adjust your calendar to attend on the scheduled day,simply call 24 hours in advance and we’ll schedule a time more convenient for you and/or your spouse. Doesn’t that make sense?”“Now since this is more educational than entertaining it is more important that you both attend the education but not nearly as important that you two attend together. Plus it saves you from attempting to recap an hour-long event to your spouse in only 2 minutes,resulting in butchering the message. We know we have done that with many great jokes,movies and philosophers great teachings,haven’t we. So what works best…”
Decisiveness is a characteristic of all successful people,accepting anyone’s indecisiveness shows how little you think of him or her. So don’t be a wimp and show that you care.
Go get em’ enrolled with my friend LODI, Ted Miller III
Don’t forget most early objections are fluff…so don’t believe the hype –preempting them.
If you get “I don’t have the time“ often,then build a preemptive strikes to insure they’ll take your action.
Insert the preemptive strike at the hight moment of emotion,commonly around the steps of the sale cycle;needs (if they came with preexisting pain) or value/desire (if you use wowish data.)
“Sally,I’m curious why do you feel it is so important to protect your kids now that they have so much access to the all information on the internet”
“Well Bob,at church we have been hearing a lot about the problems families are facing with their kids coming across inappropriate content online,accidentally,but now their natural curiosity has them seeking that material out on their own without parental guidance or a mature understanding. Who knows how that will affect them long term”
“Sally we receive about 6,000 phone calls a month,how many times do you think we have heard that before…that’s right too many. How important is that to you to learn how to avoid or recover from those challenges?” “very important!”
“Well in a resent research study that we commission to find out about the real impact the internet can have on a family they found that the average age of a child that saw pornography online was only 11 years old.” “wow” “yes it is PLUS 90% of sexual solicitations of youth occur online” “that is scary” “Yes Sally that is scary and what I find even more scary is that I have witnessed parents choosing to stay ignorant of the situation and apparently avoid learning more about the reality facing our kids and how to avoid the problems,like the ones you are hearing about at church,simply because they said they don’t have the time! Yet you and I know they’ll spend that same amount of time watching TV or a million other activities that won’t serve them nearly as well. But I know nothing like that will stop you because how important this is to you In fact Sally would you like to hear about how you could learn from that research that revealed The 5,often hidden,dangers facing your family and the things you should do to protect them?”
3B –When you discuss objection (time) show contrast
“you use to be required to spend the time driving into a major city near you,attend the event with hundreds of others,which went at least 2 hours. Where now with the use of the internet you don’t have to drive into town any more you can attend from anywhere,like the comfort of your home or office chair and instead of 2 hours at a location it is now done in half that time online.”
Preempt the objections and show contrast to your advantage and your sales will increase, Ted Miller III
2nd use what you learned to insure the action you desire
Assuming you have taken the time to effectively 1 –Built rapport,you were likable and trustworthy 2 –Found their needs,pain that they wish to avoid or benefits they wish to have 3 –Showed value,which could be emotional or monetary 4 –Created desire,made them want what you have to offer
Rattle that information off prior to asking them to enroll in your request:Example 1 –Rapport:Name = Sally 2 –Needs:protect kids online 3 –Value:awareness of research for parenting in the internet generation 4 –Desire:average age a child see pornography online is 11 years old This information become a simple statement preceding a call to action.
“Sally knowing you want to protect your children and you are now aware of the parenting briefing that will help you avoid the 5 biggest parenting mistake in the Internet generation and the 3 things you must do,especially after hearing that the average age a child like yours will see pornography online is only 11 years old… …which webinar date will work best for you? Tuesday at 8am or Thursday at 3pm?”
Build momentum in your sales cycle to ROCK out your closings.
Are you all too often hearing the words “This sounds great but… - I don’t have my calendar. - I want to check with my spouse. - can I call you back? - I am busy right now.” If so,here is one of the reasons it is happening and how to correct it!
1st STOP asking questions that guarantee the “soft blow off”and ultimately –rejection.
Analogy When someone walk into a retail store a young sales clerk asks “Can I help you find what you are looking for?” They inevitably say “no thanks I am just looking.“ That’s the “soft blow off.”
One way to avoid this:switch from an open-ended question to one of choices.
Note:open-ended questions have their place,just not in a close.
Assume the sale by providing alternative choices,such as:“Was it our annual discount sale or something specific that brought you into the most helpful store in town today?”
The response you might fear the most,because you perceived it as a bad response,would be “neither,actually I was just looking.“ This is a gift. A gift because you now have something to work with and could state:“Oh great,my intention is to be helpful,so you’re just looking for what sir?”
I’m using this fun retail example yet I know many of you will have already gone through several steps of your sales cycle prior to receiving the “soft blow off.” - Built rapport - Found their needs - Showed value - Made them want what you have to offer - YET you SKIPPED preempting the objections and jumped into a weak close.
Maybe you asked “Can I schedule you for the webinar?”which equates to: “Can I help you find what you are looking for?”
This undoubtedly results in more fluff resistance “it sounds interesting BUT… -I don’t have my calendar -Let me check with partner/spouse etc.. -I’ll get back to you”
None of these are Real objections,rather just the mind hijacking the person’s decision-making process in an effort to survive by avoiding change. So they give you the soft blow off and politely reject the offer.
To prevent those challenges:ask a question that directs them towards their best interest.
“Which webinar date will work best for you? Tuesday at 8am or Thursday at 3pm?”
Go forth and use this material to master your sales efforts, Ted Miller III
P.S. Objections come at the back end of a sales cycle… …problems there are commonly created earlier in the sales cycle.
How can adding a blog to your website improve your entire website’s search engine rankings? Blogging is a great way to attract links and targeted traffic on a website. It does this in four ways.
A blog regularly adds fresh keyword rich content to your website. Each blog posting adds another page to your website. Larger websites generally do better with the search engines.
Linking to specific relevant pages in your main site using keywords as anchor text will help the rankings of those pages.
Blogs written with interesting original insights and opinions attract links from other blogs which build up the link popularity of the entire website.
On new blog postings are broadcast via RSS automatically so new visitors will begin arriving within minutes of a new posting.
Plan: What purpose do you have for your blogging? If you want good results,your blog should reflect your goals. Start by creating a one page plan that includes your audience,topic and keywords you want to focus on. Use your plan to keep your writing focused.
Trust:People trust the content on blogs that come from individuals more than stories from mainstream news or from large corporations. Many people will search and read the content from a number of blogs and then draw their own conclusion. Blogs allow small businesses to voice their message online.
Adding a blog to your website is a great way to attract search engine spiders. Each post should be enriched with keywords that are focused on your topics.
Blogging requires writing interesting and original material to attract your audience and links from other bloggers. It then requires linking using keywords as your anchor text (link text) that deep link into your website. Use your keyword plan as a guide every time you prepare to write a blog posting.
Interesting Titles: Those first few words will make the difference between your blog posting drawing in hundreds of readers and your posting being totally ignored.
Focused Topic:Write your blog with a central topic. What do your readers want to know?” Choose a topic that your ideal prospect would want to read about and one you would enjoy writing.
Easy to scan: Make it easy for your reader to scan your blog and get the gist of it. The main points should stand out in sub-headlines,lists,images,colors,italics and indented text.
Length:How long should a posting be? Try for 200-250 words. You can write up to 300 words,but people will only read up to 300 words. That is the attention span of your average online reader.
Active Voice: Write concisely,plainly and openly. Write using action oriented words to get your message across as quickly as possible.
Keep it fresh,interesting and write original content. This is what keeps your readers coming back. Don’t be afraid to give your opinion.
Stay positive:Opinions and commentaries are great,they are entertaining and interesting. What turns people off is negative and offensive language.
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